Modding Scenes - Introduction to user-created content in computer gaming

Abstract

"Modding" is an increasingly popular participatory practice where game fans modify and extend officially released game titles with their own creations. This report introduces the reader to the diversity of user-created game content and to the multifaceted online networks --­ referred to here as "modding scenes" --­ employed in the making and sharing of the "mods". After a brief introduction to the modding culture in general, the modding scenes of Half-Life (Valve 1998), The Sims (EA/Maxis 2000) and Grand Theft Auto III / Vice City (Rockstar 2003/2003) are examined in more detailed case studies. The approach of the report is primarily descriptive; the aim is to provide a comprehensive empirical groundwork for further, more focused and analytical approaches into the modding phenomenon.

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